cant do steak - help

Unknown · March 2008

Help Please. I have had such great food with the egg but I can not get steak right. I try cranking the temp to 500 to sear the steak for a few minutes and then drop the temp and cook for 10 minutes or so - but it is always so raw and cold in the middle. It usually takes 30 minutes to get the middle warm yet medium rare but then the outside is ruined.

I then tried searing first then cooking with a diffuser. I only have 7 oz steaks on now but they have been in the egg at 350 for over 20 minutes and are still raw and cold in the middle (they were not frozen either) And I have calibrated my thermometer several times and it seems accurate. I get the same problem following the egg cooking instructions for steak as well.

Please help as I am dying for good steak.

Fidel · March 2008

Have you tried letting your steaks come to room temp? Have you tried the hot tub method?

What cut of meat are you trying? How thick?

How much lump are you using? How close is the meat to the lump?

Are you using a meat thermometer to check your internal temps?

Beanie-Bean · March 2008

Hmm...I sear between 550-600 (maybe 650 sometimes...) and pull the steaks off the grill. Shut the vents to drop the temp to 400 deg for the roast. I let the steak rest for the prescribed 20 minutes per the TRex method. I finish up the steaks at 400 for another 4-6 minutes, depending on how thick the steaks are, and how much the people I'm feeding want their steaks done.

You can definitely cook some great steaks on the BGE. Try dropping the roast temp to just 400 next round.

Jeffersonian · March 2008

Something is seriously awry here. I did NY Strips tonight, about 1-1/2", with a 90-second sear on each side at ~550*, resting, and then finishing at 400* or so for 4 minutes a side. They actually came out a touch overdone.

Answer Fidel's questions...this is very odd.

Nature Boy · March 2008

Howdy Eggmaniac
Like the fellas below mentioned, it sounds like you are searing it to death. Think of it this way. Sear the steak to get the color and crust that you desire. Then roast the steaks until they are done, preferably with indirect heat.

One of the reasons the TRex method works so well is that the steak continues to cook as it rests, then before the temp starts falling off you put it back on indirect (or low direct) to continue cooking to your preferred doneness. Since you are roasting now, the crust does not continue to darken, and you end up with the best of both worlds.

Also, consider warming your steaks to at least room temp first. Especially if they are thick. Just some idears in addition to what beanie and fidel have added.

Good luck!
Chris

Chef in the Making · March 2008

The steaks may not be not be frozen but it sounds as if they are very cold in the center. I would recommend you them rub in salt and pepper and allow them to sit out for about 30 to 60 minutes to get to room temperature before placing them on the grill.

Unknown · March 2008

I have tried the good cuts and the cheap cuts. I have tried it just on the grill rack at 300, 350 and 400 after the sear as well as with the diffuser. (I only have one height - medium egg - unless I took out the upper ceramic ring which I have not tried). The middle is always a little raw, fleshy, and rather chewy. I have let the steak warm to room temp. The cuts are generally an inch or so. I seem to be able to get chicken, pork, and burgers to taste fantastic but have not had a good steak yet.

I have not tried the TRex or hot tub methods - will look into it. I have been resting the steak after the final cook but not between the sear and roast - would that make the difference?

thanks for all the advice

Unknown · March 2008

I have tried the good cuts and the cheap cuts. I have tried it just on the grill rack at 300, 350 and 400 after the sear as well as with the diffuser. (I only have one height - medium egg - unless I took out the upper ceramic ring which I have not tried). The middle is always a little raw, fleshy, and rather chewy. I have let the steak warm to room temp. The cuts are generally an inch or so. I seem to be able to get chicken, pork, and burgers to taste fantastic but have not had a good steak yet.

I have not tried the TRex or hot tub methods - will look into it. I have been resting the steak after the final cook but not between the sear and roast - would that make the difference?

thanks for all the advice

Nature Boy · March 2008

If your steaks are just an inch thick you could pretty much finish them off with just a good sear on both sides. Is your steak dark brown and crusty on the outside? I think I'm out of suggestions. If you are starting with a warm steak, 1 inch thick, and putting a good sear on it, then roasting it for a half hour or more then I have no idea why it is still raw.

One last guess....You checked your thermometer in boiling water?

Cheers!
Chris

ArvadaMan · March 2008

Sounds like you have all the tools to succeed. I would suggest that you
read these two pages on the Naked Whiz site. They may shed some
light on something we have missed. Keep us posted. I would like to find
out what is going wrong.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/trexsteak.htm

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/xertsteak.htm

Rick's Tropical Delight · March 2008

something just doesn't seem right here.

what other types of food have you cooked with sucess?

Eggtucky · March 2008

oh..something is definitely NOT right..what he describes defies the laws of physics :blink: :pinch: :blink:

axpro · March 2008

20-30 MINUTES!?!?!?!

Something is definitely not right withthe world... to ask you what i got asked whn having temp issues, have you checked your thermometer? I have yet to really do the t-rex method because it is too much heat lol!

I did some T-bones last night. about 1 inch thick, seared at 500 for about 2 minutes a side and rested covered.... was going to finish them in the over, but they were already done! and evena little too done for the missus. as for my method, They were brought up to room temperature, given a rub of EVOO and Salt and pepper, and tossed them on the grill once i hit 500-550.

Even if i let it cool and baked for a 10 min utes iw ould be past medium well and done to a crisp!

It all depends on what you consider "done" for a steak i guess. I like it medium-rare to medium and the missus wants it so a good doctor could bring it back.

[Deleted User] · March 2008

One more vote for this doesn't sound right.

As has been said before, calibrate your dome thermo by boiling water and checking to see if it reads 212. If not, turn the nut on the back until it does.
Also if you don't have a thermapen you really should get one. They cost a lot but it is the tool I rely on the most. Then you can cook to temp without any guesswork.

Do you like your beef well done? If so that might be part of the problem because most of us like red meat in varying stages of rare, so all ourt advice would still lead you in that direction.

Also, I wouldn't attempt to cook a steak below 400. If they're 1" steaks, you're fine cooking them at 400. You don't need to do anything fancy. Just regular grate, regular height, cooking direct at 400 - 450. flipping as required.

Hot Tub Method (this is usually done with thick-1.5"+ steaks) - Put each steak in a ziplock baggie, suck the air out of it and seal.
Put them in a large empty bowl or dishpan.
Run the hot water from the kitchen faucet till it's good and hot and then fill up the bowl/dishpan and let the steaks set while you start up your Egg.

You may need to keep refreshing the water to keep it warm enough, depending on how cold your steaks were, how many, etc. The steak color will change from red toward grey. you arewarming uptheir internal temp so that when you cook, the meat doesn't have as far to go before it's done.

Then when your fire is ready, throw on your pre-warmed steaks. With this method, often the sear alone is adequate to cook the steak without any rest and roast after.

[Deleted User] · March 2008

Sorry, I thought I had read your post thoroughly but I missed that you had calibrated your thermometer several times already.

One more thing. After the sear (which is 1 minute per side per inch of thickness) you pull the steak off and let it rest while you get the temp down to 400 or whatever for the roast. Depending on the searing temp, this usually takes me 20 minutes. The steak is still cooking itself during this time.

The times and temps you described sound like you'd be drying the thing out.

Essex County · March 2008

Not much more I can add. But if I'm cooking 1-inch steaks, I put them in a ziplock in pretty hot water for at least 30 minutes. That gets them up to room temp, maybe higher if I change the water halfway through the hot tubbing. At this point, all I need is a sear, maybe 2-3 minutes per side, and the 1-inchers are medium rare. Now, if I have 2-inch thick steaks, I shorten the sear and let 'em sit while I bring the egg temp down to 400.

When you say "diffuser", you mean a platesetter or some kind of indirect cooking set up?

Paul

Chef in the Making · March 2008

Just another thought.

I know you said that you calibrated your thermometer (dome) but you did not mention if you had an instant read thermometer like a thermopen. If you do what are your steaks reading before you take them off. That may be your best indicator as to the internal temp of the steak and the degree of doneness.

fishlessman · March 2008

get a thermapen, use the trex method, dont go by times, get a real steak, maybe something 20 plus ounces, 7 ounces isnt a steak and thin steaks never cook right. for the times you posted, that little steak should be charcoal

TRex · March 2008

The folks here offered some good advice, I don't have much to add, except that, when you say you're leaving your steak out until it gets to room temperature, how are you determining this? Are you just touching the outside or are you inserting a meat probe into the center of the steak and reading something above 60 degrees?

If your steak was indeed room temperature, the only other thing I can conclude is that you have a bad dome thermometer. It may even calibrate correctly to 212 in boiling water but lose accuracy in the higher ranges, or after your sear it may not be recovering accuracy. I would suggest maybe buying a new one or checking your existing one against a digital probe over a larger range (not just at one point), say 200 to 700 degrees, and then back from 700 to 200, just to make sure there is no hysteresis in the analogue mechanism.

Just my thoughts - good luck!

TRex

stike · March 2008

most peeps would be surprised, too, to learn that an hour sitting out at 70 degrees or so won't do jack bunratty to the internal temp of a steak left on the counter. the only thing "room temp" is the surface maybe. the internal will, at best, be 45 or so for a 'real ' (thicker than 3/4" at least) steak when left out for an hour or even more. beyond that, it's really better (and safer, bacteria wise) to hot-tub the sucker in only 20 minutes or so.

Unknown · March 2008

Heres what I do with ribeyes around 1.250-1.500 thick. First, I have a spider, and a woo2 ring from eggaccessories.com. I also have a cast iron grid that fits into the spider. The egg is heated to around 400*, and the steaks are put on the c-i grid to sear. Since this lowered grid is right above the lump, the steaks get a very good sear in one minute or so. They are then removed to a tray, the regular grid is placed on top of the woo2 ring (which brings the cooking height up to about even with the felt line) and the steak are now far enough away from the lump that they will nicely roast. The dome temp lowers to around 350* during this fiddling, but starts to rise back to 400* slowly. The steaks roast for five to eight minutes per side. Internal temp is checked with a thermapen: my steaks are a delicious 130* in the middle, and my wifes come off when they are a way-overdone-for-anyone-with-good-taste 148*.
Roasting at the lower temp gives us more leeway on doneness and allows for more smoke flavor on the meat, at least for us.

BajaTom · March 2008

A 7 oz steak on the BGE direct at 350 for twenty minutes would be well done unless it was frozen solid. I question wheather this is legit. Just my 2 cents worth. Tom

cant do steak - help

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